Conference Report

Feature

Feature

The European Science Foundation (ESF) The European Science Foundation (-~ see p. 93) is an association of its 55 member research councils, academies, and institutions devoted to basic scientific research in 20 countries. ESF assists its Member Organisations in two main ways, 1 by bringing scientists together in its Scientific Programmes, Networks and European Research Conferences to work on topics of common concern; and 2. through the joint study of issues of strategic importance in European science policy. The scientific work sponsored by ESF includes basic research in the natural and technical sciences, the medical and biosciences, the humanities and and social sciences.

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2. to make grants for the support of concerted actions and collaborative schemes 3. to ensure the inter-relationship between the strategic and operational activities of the Foundation How ESF Works

ESF maintains close relations with other scientific institutions within and outside Europe. By its activities, ESF supports cooperation and coordination across national frontiers and endeavours, offers expert scientific advice on strategic issues, and provides the European forum for fundamental science.

ESF pays for its activities through the contributions of its Member Organisations. Contributions are made both to the ESF basic budgets, to which Member Organisations contribute on a scale that is calculated on the basis of national incomes, and to specific programmes and projects in which certain Member Organisatinns may have particular interest.

Basic Aims Of ESF

ESF Scientific Programmes almost always contain teams of scientists who carry out research. ESF Scientific Networks discuss, plan, innovate, analyse or coordinate research but seldom carry out large amounts of substantive research. Programmes are often long-term and are funded (except in the developmental phase) by participating member Organisatinns. Networks are usually of shorter term (three years); they are funded from the Network Account within the ESF basic budget.

A detailed reappraisal of the structure, functions, activities, and relationships of ESF was conducted in 1993 by ESF, its Member Organisatioos and associated institutions, as a result of which the aims of ESF for the future have been revised and dearly defined. The principal objects of the Foundation are: 1. to advance cooperation in basic research by planning, launching and, where appropriate, managing collaborative research activities 2. to examine research issues of strategic European importance 3. to give advice on science policy matters 4. to promote the mobility of research workers 5. to assist the free flow of information and ideas.

In early 1994 there were 25 ESF Scientific Networks and 32 ESF Scientific Programmes in operation, with others being prepared.

Further objects of the Foundation are:

Dr. Jan-Henrik Kock Scientific Secretary for the Life Sciences

1. to facilitate cooperation in the use of existing facilities and in the provision of new facilities

ESF also organises, joindy with the Commission of the European Communities, a programme of European Research Conferences.

European Science Foundation 1 quai Lezay-Marnhsia F-67080 Strasbourg Cedex

Conference Report The Challenge of Waste Waste Reduction and Waste Management in Chemical Industry Vienna, Austria, September 2 3 - 25, 1993 -

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"The Challenge of Waste - Strategies for Waste Reduction and Waste Management in Chemical Industry" was the 4th international conference in the series "Chemical Pathways in the Environment" implemented by the Working Party "Chemistry and the Environment" of the Federation of Chemical Societies in Europe (FECS). Preparing this Viennese conference, FECS and CEFIC (Council Europ&n des F~derations de Hndustrie Ch~mique) collaborated for the first time. The Austrian Chemical Society (GOCH) and the Austrian Chemical Industry Association (FCHIO) were the local organizers. 25 papers were presented by experts from 10 European countries and international organisations. The main topics were: Legislative framework and related problems Definitions Integrated approaches - The non-reducible residue Product and waste management Waste and public access Inventories 200 participants from 15 countries visited the sessions. The speakers from science and industry stated both problems of concern and possible solutions. -

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Chemical industry will have to develop, even more strictly than hitherto, ecologically proper products and economically feasible ways of waste removal and disposal. Evidence was given that byproducts and waste from chemical industry are utilized as secondary raw materials as well as increasingly locally recycled and thermally treated. In many plants thermal treatment is combined with the recovery of energy. Special attention was paid to both the avoidance of waste and its limits and to the management of non-reducible residues. One session was dedicated to inventories concerning industrial waste. There is need for additional capacities of progressive thermal treatment. The main conclusion of the conference was: "The quality of measures for disposal has to be given the same attention as the quality of production and supply." Proceedings of"The Challenge of Waste" are available from: Gesellschaft Osterreichischer Chemiker, Esehenbachgasse 9, A-1010 Vienna, Austria.

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ESPR-Environ. Sci. & Pollut. Res. 1 (2) 127 (1994) 9 ecomed publishers, D-86899 Landsberg, Germany

Albert Hackl Technical University o f Vienna, Austria

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The challenge of waste : Strategies for waste reduction and waste management in chemical industry Vienna, Austria, September 23-25, 1993.

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